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time machine

Deuteronomy 29:26-29 (JDV)

Deuteronomy 29:26 They began to serve other gods, bowing in worship to gods they had not known – gods that Yahveh had not permitted them to worship.
Deuteronomy 29:27 Therefore Yahveh’s anger burned against this land, and he brought every affliction written in this book on it.
Deuteronomy 29:28 Yahveh uprooted them from their land in his anger, rage, and intense wrath, and tossed them into another land where they are today.’
Deuteronomy 29:29 The hidden things belong to Yahveh our God, but the revealed things belong to us and our children permanently, so that we may follow all the words of this instruction.

time machine

God not only warned the Israelites of the consequences of rebelling against the covenant, he as much as brought them in a time machine to the land of their future exile, and treated them to a glimpse into that future. This beautiful land they are beginning to experience with all its wonder and joy would be lost, and it would be their fault.

Verse 29 is intriguing. It talks about the hidden things and the revealed things. In this context, the future is not one of the hidden things. It is displayed in all its tragic irony. God did not keep them from knowing their destiny. But his revelation did not stop them from abandoning his covenant.

God loves you and me so much that he wants to covenant with us as well. It’s a different covenant, but the same mission. He wants to draw all the nations to himself through us, as we reflect his glory by our obedience to Christ’s commands. Could we be so stupid as to think that we could enter into covenant with God through Christ’s blood on the cross, and then rebel against that covenant by abandoning the lives of holiness he calls us to? Or, do we think that just this once we can do what the Israelites did and not be tossed into exile?

Lord, thank you for revealing the future of rebellion against your covenant. We renounce any thought of failing you.